Arkansas Tech senior linebacker Mike Houston and Arkansas State senior kicker Eric Neihouse, a Russellville native, are among the players and coaches to be honored by the Little Rock Touchdown Club at its annual banquet Dec. 15.

Both were named player of the year for their respective teams.

Houston led Tech with 113 tackles - 35 more than Tech's second-leading tackler - including 53 solo stops and 4.5 tackles for loss. He also had one sack, one interception and three passes broken up.

He was considered by many a lock for All-Gulf South Conference honors but was surprisingly omitted when the selections were released Nov 14.

Tech coach Steve Mullins said Houston's leadership will be missed.

"Mike is a tremendous football player, a great leader," he said. "In my mind, he's a self-made football player. He's a young man who came to our team several years ago and through sheer work ethic made himself a great player.

"He's going to be hard to replace next year, not only from an athletic standpoint, but from a leadership standpoint."

Houston also excels in the classroom. The senior holds a 3.3 grade point average and is on track to graduate this spring with a degree in mechanical engineering.

"With the amount of time that's involved in being a collegiate athlete," Mullins said, "for him to make the grades he makes in engineering makes him special."

Neihouse is a big reason the Indians (6-5) earned a share of the Sun Belt Conference championship this season and will be making their first postseason appearance on the Division 1-A level.

ASU will face Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 20 at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La.

A first-team All-conference selection, Neihouse made 11 of 16 field goals this season with a long of 50 yards and connected on all 29 of the extra point attempts.

Neihouse lifted the Indians to victory with last-second field goals in back-to-back wins over Louisiana-Lafayette (39-36) and Florida Atlantic (3-0 in overtime) in October and accounted for all of ASU's scoring in a 9-3 win over Troy on Nov. 12.

His 50-yarder came in the waning minutes of a 31-27 loss to Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 1 and would have spelled the difference had the Indians been able to prevent a late touchdown drive by ULM.

"There's not a better kicker in our conference that performs under pressure like Eric does," Roberts said. "There was a four-game stretch where he was or could have been the deciding factor."